Watch A Video Breakdown of GAME OF THRONES Season Two’s Visual Effects

In just under four minutes, VFX studio Pixomondo has highlighted – with gusto – the best special effects from HBO’s second season of Game of Thrones, which (rightfully) recently picked up six awards at the 2012 Emmy Creative Arts Awards. The reel, which Pixomondo has now made available to fans, is exceptionally impressive, not only because of the quality of the work shown but, frankly, in the actual production of the clip itself.

One of the most impressive elements of the season were Dany’s dragons, and seeing how they were layered up from bone to flesh and movement just goes to prove the lengths the VFX team went to to make them as visceral as possible for their scenes. To view the clip which also features key scenes like the Battle of Blackwater Bay as well as that rather memorable closing scene of the season, hit the jump.

Though many might be surprised at the extent to which Pyke, Harrenhal and some of the other castles and locations were digitally rendered, even more interesting is perhaps how much of it is not. Many of the sets are incredibly impressive in their own right, with the green screens or layering in post helping just to enhance the grandeur of scale. That is particularly true with the White Walkers, many of whom were actors with zombie-esque make up on as a base layer that was digitally enhanced to exceptionally creepy levels of decay (and I didn’t at the time realize that the horse, for instance, was entirely digital and not just a digitally zombified. Apparently though, Kit Harington’s hair is all-natural).

Looking ahead, the series’s upcoming third season will cover roughly half of the third book in the novel series, A Storm of Swords, and will feature not only some new locales but some new characters as well.